Phantoms gained ground in the race to first place after an undefeated week

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms are closing the standings gap with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins after an impressive undefeated week last week, including a shutout win over the aforementioned Penguins. The Phantoms now have accumulated 81 standings points in 60 games this season, compared to the Penguins’ 85 standings points in 61 games. It will be an interesting battle for first place in the division, as well as in the Eastern conference, as we go down the final stretch of the season.

The Reading Royals also had a great week last week, winning two of three games, and earning a standings point in an overtime loss as well. They are riding a five-game point streak, and they are doing it with many of their key players on recall to the Phantoms right now.

Some ECHL trade deadline acquisitions have been key in filling the gaps, in the meantime, as the team now has sole possession of first place in the tight race in the north division of the ECHL.

Let’s take a look at last week’s action:

LEHIGH VALLEY PHANTOMS (39-18-3)

Date: Wednesday, March 8, 2017 Score: Phantoms 3 | Penguins 0

Wilkes-Barre, PA: The Phantoms opened up their week last Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre with a huge 3-0 shutout win over the Penguins. After struggling against the Baby Pens over their last few meetings, it was a huge momentum boost for the team to begin the week on such a high note against the only team ahead of them in the eastern conference standings of the AHL.

Chris McCarthy opened up the scoring just a few minutes in, scoring his first goal as a Phantom. Colin McDonald and Mark Zengerle added goals in the third period, with McDonald assisting on Zengerle’s goal, to help the Phantoms take the game.

Scott Laughton also chipped in nicely on offense by assisting on both third period goals. The Phantoms went 1/7 on the power play, and out-shot the Penguins by a close 34-31 margin.

The big story of the night was Alex Lyon, who backstopped the Phantoms with a 31-save shutout performance, which was his fourth shutout of the season.

Allentown, PA: The Phantoms looked to keep the momentum going on Friday night, as they returned home to face the Hershey Bears at the PPL Center. Luckily for them, they earned a 3-2 victory on a solid performance. The Phantoms out-shot the Bears by a 36-21 margin, and received solid goaltending from Anthony Stolarz, who stopped 19 of the 21 shots he faced.

Corban Knight led the way offensively for the Phantoms by scoring a goal and adding an assist, and Laughton and Travis Sanheim were the other goal scorers.

The Bears opened the scoring with just one minute remaining in the first period, but the Phantoms scored the next two goals to take a brief lead. The Bears would tie it at two after two periods, but then Knight’s goal in the third period was the difference maker.

Allentown, PA: The Phantoms looked to end the week on a high note, as they hosted the red hot Utica Comets on Saturday night, and luckily for the Phantoms, what was seemingly an underwhelming performance somehow ended up as a 4-1 win.

The Comets out-shot the Phantoms by a 37-27 margin throughout the game, but the Phantoms received great goaltending from Lyon, who stopped 36 of the 37 shots he faced. Lyon has had a great rookie season so far, improving his record to 24-11-1 with a 2.62 GAA, and a .914 save percentage, and 4 shutouts, after last week.

The Phantoms converted 1/5 on the power play, but most importantly, were able to convert the chances they did have at even strength.

Andy Miele posted the only multi-point game for the Phantoms with two assists, and Colin McDonald, T.J. Brennan, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, and Travis Sanheim were the goal scorers.

The Phantoms have another big week ahead, which kicks off tonight at home against the Syracuse Crunch. They will then face the Penguins again, this time for a home-and-home series on Friday and Saturday nights. The teams will face off in Allentown on Friday night, and Wilkes-Barre on Saturday night.

The only recent transactions for the Phantoms were that defensemen Jesper Pettersson and Maxim Lamarche were both recalled to the team from the Royals on Monday, as the Phantoms continue to experience injuries in the lineup.

READING ROYALS (36-21-4)

Date: Thursday, March 9, 2017Score: Royals 6 | Beast 7 (OT)

Brampton, Ontario: The Royals kicked off their week last week with a wild game back on Thursday night against the Brampton Beast. They fell by a score of 7-6 in overtime, but the team overcame deficits of 4-1, 5-3, and even a 6-5 deficit in the third period, to force overtime.

The Royals had a pair of three-point performances in this one, as well as a two-point performance. Matt Willows (2 G, 1 A), and Olivier Labelle (2G, 1 A) put up three points each, and Ryan Penny (1G, 1 A) had the two-point night for the Royals.

The shots were tightly contested in this one, with the Beast out-shooting the Royals by a 40-38 margin, but special teams were the difference, as the Royals gave up both a power play goal, and a shorthanded goal to the Beast.

Mark Dekanich stopped 33 of the 40 shots he faced in net, in the overtime loss.

Game highlights via the Brampton Beast:

Date: Friday, March 10, 2017Score: Royals 6 | Beast 2

Brampton, Ontario: The Royals rebounded the very next night in Brampton, as they scored six goals again en route to defeating the Beast by a 6-2 margin to avenge their loss the night before.

The Royals scored an unprecedented three shorthanded goals in this game, and they also converted one of their power play chances, to show the Beast that the special teams advantage can go both ways.

Martin Ouellette stopped 34 of the 36 shots he faced in the win, and once again, the Royals saw a few players put up multi-point games.

The Royals ended up out-shooting the Beast by a 39-36 margin, but the differences were really special teams and goaltending in this one.

Game highlights via the Brampton Beast:

Date: Saturday, March 11, 2017Score: Royals 4 | Jackals 1

Elmira, NY: The Royals traveled to Elmira on Saturday to play the Elmira Jackals for the final time. The Jackals announced that they will be ceasing operations at the end of the 2016-2017 season. As has been the case most of this season, the Royals came away with a win by a score of 4-1. This improved their season series record against the Jackals to 9-1-0.

Willows (2 A), and newcomer Evan Bloodoff (2A) posted multi-point nights for the Royals. Willows finished with two goals and six assists in just three games for the Royals last week, which was still not quite good enough to earn him ECHL Player of the Week honors, somehow, but it was an effort to be extremely proud of. Since being acquired by the Royals early in the season, Willows has scored 15 goals, and added 24 assists for 39 points in 36 games.

Justin Crandall, Matt Salhany, Florian Iberer, and Czarnik were the goal scorers for the Royals in this one.

Ouellette started in net again, and stopped 26 of the 27 shots he faced in the victory.

Game highlights are not available for this game.

Leading Scorers

Robbie Czarnik (22 G, 29 A for 51 points in 55 games)

Justin Crandall (17 G, 31 A for 48 points in 55 games)

Chris McCarthy (19 G, 28 A for 47 points in 43 games)

The Royals have a prime opportunity to keep up the momentum this week, as they face the Norfolk Admirals twice, Friday and Saturday nights, with both games being played in Norfolk. The teams were supposed to play in Reading last night, but the game was postponed due to the snowstorm. The game will now be played on Wednesday, April 5th.

Ouellette’s two great outings in net earned him the honors of CCM/ECHL Goaltender of the Week. Ouellette was 2-0-0 with a 1.50 GAA and a .952 save percentage.

The Royals made a lot of transactions last week, and beginning this week so far, due to shortages in the lineup from injuries, and mainly from players being recalled to Lehigh Valley.

Last Tuesday, the Royals signed forward Justin Danforth to an ATO. Danforth had just completed his senior season at Sacred Heart University, and scored a goal and added two assists in three games for the Royals. He has since been signed to an ATO in the AHL with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

The Royals also signed forward Steve Lebel to an ATO, and forward Matt Salhany to an ECHL SPC last Thursday, as well. Lebel only appeared in one game for the Royals, and Salhany appeared in two games, scoring one goal. Lebel was signed out of the University of Montcon in Canada, and Salhany had just completed his senior season at the University of Alabama-Huntsville.

The Royals were busy last Thursday, as it was the ECHL Trade Deadline. They made two trades as well, sending defenseman and captain Mike Marcou to the Florida Everblades for forwards Evan Bloodoff and Adam Brace. The team also acquired defenseman Chase Golightly from the South Carolina Stingrays for future considerations.

The Royals announced on Saturday that forward Nathan Moon was released from his ECHL SPC, and Lebel was released from his ATO.

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About the author

Brian Sloane is a contributor here at Sons of Penn - he provides weekly updates on the minor league teams in the Philadelphia Flyers organization, some breaking news updates, as well as occasional write ups on draft prospects, and columns.